KOSOVO’S HUMAN RIGHTS ATMOSPHEREFOCUS OF HELSINKI COMMISSION HEARING

(Washington) - The United States Helsinki Commission will hold a hearing to examine the current human rights atmosphere in Kosovo, with a particular focus on the rights of ethnic minorities to return home, human trafficking, and the rising tensions between the region’s ethnic minorities.

The hearing will also focus on the continued division along ethnic lines of the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica, where tensions remain high. Serbs, Roma and individuals among Kosovo’s other minority populations remain either isolated in enclaves within Kosovo or displaced outside region.

Valerie Percival, Kosovo Field Representative for the International Crisis Group and author of recently released report: “UNMiK’s Kosovo Albatross: Tackling Division in Mitrovica”

An un-official transcript will be available on the Commission’s Internet web site located at http://www.csce.gov, within 24 hours of the hearing.

The United States Helsinki Commission, an independent federal agency, by law monitors and encourages progress in implementing provisions of the Helsinki Accords. The Commission, created in 1976, is composed of nine Senators, nine Representatives and one official each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.